Mega will only succeed if developers take the fall - Stupid is Winning

Over the weekend Kim Dotcom launched his long-awaited fuck you to the Justice department.  Prior to this Kim Dotcom’s empire was a prolific source of piracy and the favored destination on indexing sites like SurfTheChannel, TV-Links, LetMeWatchThis etc plus all the similar sites for downloads instead of tv shows and movies.

Essentially this is the same site and service as before, the only difference is the links provide a key instead of a file id, which Dotcom denies having and thus “doesn’t know” what you upload or share.  Even as you pass it to him with a wink.

There is an affiliate system which is part of what got him into trouble last time.  The websites that index videos and downloadables get paid if you become a paying customer.  SurfTheChannel was alleged to be making 35,000 pounds a month off its advertising and affiliates before being shut down.  Can’t be more specific but I would guess the majority was affiliates due to banner blindness while every single link could be a potential comission, but it is just a guess.

These affiliate systems are literally paying someone else to take the fall so it will be interesting to see who will take that risk again.

Without these affiliates file sharing via Mega ironically cannot compete with piracy, and there’s not many compelling reason to use them over anyone else in a marketsaturatedwithexcellence.

The only way the new Mega can become viable and sustainable is through their API.  It’s a genius move that opens up an entire new group of people to carry Dotcom’s liability even as they build him an empire.

Be warned:  there are only three types of businesses you can build on Mega’s API:

• ones that nobody cares about
• ones that become features
• ones that will destroy your life